3D Printed Street Crossings: Supporting Orientation and Mobility Training with People who are Blind or have Low Vision

Title of the Paper

3D Printed Street Crossings: Supporting Orientation and Mobility Training with People who are Blind or have Low Vision

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: Assistive Technology, Accessible Design, Learning Support for Individuals with Visual Impairments
• Keywords: Blind, Maps, Intersections, 3D Printing, Orientation and Mobility

Research Background and Problem Statement

• Problem or Challenge:

  • Street crossing skills are an essential part of daily life for individuals who are Blind or have Low Vision (BLV). However, current tactile maps and tools used in Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training have limitations, such as insufficient durability, overly abstract designs, and lack of customization.
  • Congenital visual impairments in children lead to insufficient environmental information, making it challenging for traditional methods to effectively teach complex intersection concepts, such as traffic flow, driver decision-making, and safe crossing techniques.

• Importance of the Problem:

  • Intersection safety is critical for the independence and social integration of the BLV population. Enhancing these skills can significantly improve their travel safety while also increasing the teaching efficiency of O&M instructors.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • While 3D printing technology has been widely applied in education and assistive technology, its use in teaching basic street intersection concepts has not been thoroughly explored.
  • Introducing new educational methods can help overcome the limitations of existing tools and provide BLV individuals with more interactive, professional, and customizable resources.

Solution

• Proposed Method or Solution:

  • Leverage 3D printing technology to design and produce street intersection models to support O&M training. The design process employed a Participatory Design approach, with key participants including 11 O&M professionals, tactile readers, and BLV children.
  • Developed two types of 3D-printed toolkits: 1. Standard intersection layout puzzle pieces; 2. Customizable 1:128 scale street corner components.

• Innovative Aspects:

  • The Participatory Design approach accurately captured the needs of O&M professionals and BLV individuals, ensuring the models are easy to understand, portable, and customizable.
  • The 3D models not only represent road structures but also incorporate interactive and gamified elements to stimulate learning interest.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Needs Analysis: Conducted semi-structured interviews to identify core requirements for the maps (e.g., key features, portability, durability).
  2. Collaborative Design: Collected feedback during the design and prototyping phases and iteratively optimized the models.
  3. Evaluation and Feedback: Validated the solution's effectiveness through surveys, interviews, and video analysis of BLV children using the models.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:

  • Developed a series of 3D-printed materials that meet O&M training needs.
  • Empirical evidence demonstrated that the 3D-printed models effectively enhanced BLV children's understanding of intersection layouts and crossing skills.
  • Published the 3D-printed models on the Thingiverse platform, allowing O&M professionals worldwide to download and customize them for free.

• Comparative Advantages:

  • Compared to existing tactile maps and tools, the 3D-printed materials excel in demonstrating key concepts, portability, professional appearance, and appeal to BLV individuals.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Using the System Usability Scale (SUS), the 3D-printed models scored 65.9, slightly higher than existing tools; after adjustments, the score increased to 73.2, surpassing the "acceptable" threshold.
  • Video recordings showed that children learned complex intersection concepts, such as traffic flow and safe alignment techniques, through the models.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the scale of material production and evaluation was limited; further research is needed to adapt the models to international intersection designs.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Develop models for complex intersections to meet high-frequency usage scenarios.
    2. Create usage guidelines, including teaching recommendations and regional adaptations.
    3. Expand model designs to support specific layouts in other countries or cities.

Through this research, the authors not only developed better educational tools for the BLV community but also provided a new practical framework for the field of accessible design. These outcomes have the potential to enhance the safe mobility of BLV individuals while fostering global collaboration and innovation in O&M practices.